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Maple Pecan Sticky Bun Oatmeal

It’s hard to find a good sticky bun, I think. Often I think they’re too sticky, or too sugary sweet, or too gooey or too gross, and not all that good for you. (A “classic” Cinnabon bun is all of the above, I think. I’m getting a little sick just thinking about it). A good one is heaven on a plate. A bad one, and you might as well just eat a Twinkie.

My memories of growing up in Vermont include the smell of fall, the smell of spring, walking through snow that came up over the back of my boots and lodged itself in the arch of my foot, and Maple. Loads and loads of Maple in all sorts of forms. Not to go all Bubba from Forest Gump on you, but there was maple syrup, maple sugar candy, hard maple sticks and lollipops, and, of course, Sugar on Snow. It was a taste that took me a while to love. As a kid, I found the maple sugar candy way too sweet, (!) and there is a rich thickness to the flavor that really had to grow on me. But when it did, it stuck. Now a dollop of maple syrup tastes like home, and you can use it to flavor all manor of things.

The process for making the stuff is something I don’t understand, except that I think God and nature do a lot, but not all of the work. Vermont got hit with about 2 feet of snow last night, enough to shut some stuff down, which is a Big Deal, and I read a comment on Facebook last night that suggested that it was a good “sugar snow.”

Three generations work together on one of the last gathers of 2009 sugaring season. Bob Bragg in the driver's seat looks on as one of his eleven grandchildren, Lucia, tips a pail of sap into the strainer. Dan, at the edge of the photo, heads into the woods for more. Note the fashionable splash of pink on the tractor seat.

My preference now is the dark, thick, Grade B, but if you are a Fancypants, well, you can go with the Grade A Fancy. It’s right there in the name.

But anyway, I digress.

Kathy’s Oatmeal has broken me. “What else can I do with it?” We all brainstormed, carrot cake, cheesecake (really, Nahm? Seriously? That’s going to take some thought…), and Charlie hit on Sticky Bun. So here you go. Maple Pecan Sticky Bun Oatmeal. Makes me feel the snow creeping down the back of my boot.

As always, all recipes build off the basic recipe at Healthy Slow Cooking, and, as always, if you haven’t been there, go. Now. I mean it.

The Night Before

Spray a 4 quart crockpot with cooking spray and put in:

1 C Steel Cut Oats

4 C So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

1 T Cinnamon

1 C raisins or Zante Currants

To make the morning easier, make your topping and put it in the fridge. The topping is:

1 T chopped pecans stirred into

1/4 c of Maple Syrup (Real Maple Syrup. Not that Aunt Jemima Crap. Oh my gosh, I mean this so much I can’t tell you. You can order it online if you want from the good folks at Bragg Farm and make one of my Mom’s former students happy. It may look a little spendy, but it will last you a long long time. It may even last you so long that it gets mold on the top. If that happens, just skim the mold off, reboil, and refrigerate. There. Your daily dose of grodyness).

Cook on low over night, go to sleep, and dream of oatmeal. Wake up.

Put the oatmeal in 4 bowls, and top each with a quarter of the Maple Pecan Topping. Eat. Die Happy.